Huggins on the cusp of 800 wins

West Virginia head basketball coach Bob Huggins is on the cusp of another career milestone. Following a 90-55 route of VMI this past Saturday, Huggins is now one win away from his 800th career victory as a head coach.

It’s strange to think that the ninth winningest coach in NCAA division one history and the third-winningest active division one coach behind Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim, thought coaching was a road he’d never go down.

“Growing up, I never thought about being a coach, I thought about being a player,” Huggins said.

Huggins’s own father even told him that coaching wasn’t something he wanted to get himself into. Each of his siblings went on to pursue non-coaching careers . … except for Huggins.

“I’m the only in the family that’s a coach,” Huggins said. “I never have listened much to my dad obviously.”

After playing point guard for the Mountaineers from 1975-1977 and a brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, Huggins became a graduate assistant for West Virginia and then an assistant coaching with Ohio State before launching his head coaching career with Walsh University in 1980.

In 34 years as a head basketball coach, Huggins has registered 27 20-win seasons and 16 25-win seasons with Walsh, Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State and West Virginia while also guiding both the Bearcats and the Mountaineers to the final four. 209 of 799 wins up to this point have come with the Mountaineers.

Now in his 35th season as a head coach, Huggins has the Mountaineers off to an 8-1 start and nation’s top team in turnover margin, turnovers forced and steals.

With an already astonishing coaching resume that also includes two final four appearances and on the doorstep of accomplishing yet another career milestone, Huggins doesn’t let his personal achievements stand in the way as he never gives them any thought, including getting to 800 wins.

“It never crosses my mind,” Huggins said. “I know that sounds strange, but it’s the truth. I don’t think about it.”

With one more win, Huggins would join coaching legends Eddie Sutton, Jim Calhoun, Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, and Bob Knight as well as and two other active coaches in Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski as the only NCAA Division one coaches to reach 800 career wins.

Huggins is also just eight more wins from surpassing Sutton to become the eighth all-time winningest coach.

West Virginia will look to win its fifth straight and give Huggins his 800th career win to further solidify his legacy among the best in college basketball this Saturday in Morgantown when the Mountaineers take on UMKC. The game will tip-off at 2 p.m.